CLASS NOTES

1953

Gilbert J. Wise, A&S '53, Med '57 (MD), retired from the Weill Cornell Medical Center after 11 years with the Department of Urology. Prior to Weill Cornell, he served as director of urology at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn for 40 years.

1960

Ronald J. Cohn, A&S '60, published three books in 2020: Triples, Trios, and Triads: An Eclectic Journey; Thought Poppers Volume 1; and Phrases, Photos, and Quotes: Thought Poppers Volume 2. The books are composed of material Cohn has been developing for more than 50 years and are available on Amazon.com.

1964

Charles S. Bryan, A&S '64, Med '67 (MD), HS '68, a retired infectious disease specialist, edited Sir William Osler: An Encyclopedia, published by Norman Publishing in 2020. The book is a collection of reminiscences and tributes by more than 200 of Osler's contemporaries. Osler was one of the best-known physicians in the English-speaking world during the early 20th century and is considered by some as the father of modern medicine.

1966

Charles P. Wilkinson, Med '66 (MD), HS '67, '70, Med '20 (MA), professor emeritus and former chair of the Johns Hopkins Department of Ophthalmology, earned an MA through the online history of medicine program. He is 80 years old.

1970

Paul Garson, A&S '70 (MFA), released Bersaglieri: The Devil's Griffins―A Visual History of Italy's Elite Plumed Warriors in August 2020 and Heldentod: The Nazi Culture of Death in January 2021, both published by Fonthill Media. The latter includes hundreds of never-before-seen photos from Garson's personal collection and world travels.

1971

George R. Cotter, A&S '71 (MS), was inducted into the National Security Agency Cryptologic Hall of Honor in December 2020. For more than half a century, he has fostered the adoption of advanced technology in support of the NSA's mission. He led the agency in adopting high-performance computers and was the founding director of the National Computer Security Center.

1972

John C. Ruckdeschel, HS '72, retired after 49 years in academic medicine and three years as the director of the Cancer Initiative at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

1977

David B. Hellmann, Med '77 (MD), HS '80, the Aliki Perroti Professor of Medicine, stepped down as chairman of the Department of Medicine and vice dean at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center. He will continue to be the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Innovative Medicine, which promotes patient-centered care through the creative collaboration of research, teaching, and patient-care programs.

1984

Michael Kun, A&S '84, is the national co-chair of Epstein Becker & Green's Wage and Hour practice group. His novel, The Locklear Letters, has been adapted for the screen as a movie titled Eat Wheaties! starring Tony Hale, Elizabeth Banks, Elisha Cuthbert, Paul Walter Hauser, Danielle Brooks, and Sarah Chalke. The movie won the Best Comedy award at the 2020 San Diego International Film Festival and the Humor award at the 2020 Heartland Film Festival and will be released in 2021. The novel has been reprinted with the new title Eat Wheaties!

1986

Stephanie Clintonia Boddie, A&S '86, assistant professor of church and community ministries at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, received one of the school's 2020 Outstanding Undergraduate Research Mentors awards. Her students were also recognized for their outstanding research on teen food insecurity. When Boddie received the award, she acknowledged one of her first Hopkins professors, Ruth Aranow, A&S '52 (MS), '57 (PhD), as the mentor who inspired her to invest in the lives of her students.

1987

Richard J. Pan, A&S '87, is a state senator representing California's 6th District, which includes Sacramento and Yolo counties. In 2020, he authored Senate Bill 852, which authorizes California to enter partnerships to produce insulin and other generic prescription drugs. Pan received advice on the legislation from Gerard Anderson, a professor of health policy and management at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Hospital Finance and Management. Pan had worked with Anderson as an undergraduate research assistant nearly 25 years ago.

1989

Thomas W. Koenig, Med '89 (MD), '94 (PGF), HS '94, will retire from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in May. For more than 16 years, Koenig has been the associate dean for student affairs at the School of Medicine, advising nearly 2,000 medical students in that time.

1992

Calvin B. Johnson, Med '92 (MD), SPH '93 (MPH), was named global head of public health and chief medical officer for Royal Caribbean Group in August 2020. In this new role, Johnson will lead the group's global health and wellness policy, manage its public health and clinical practice, and determine the strategic plans and operations of its global health care organization. He will also collaborate with the Healthy Sail Panel to ensure the company establishes and implements its protocols and recommendations.

1993

Karyn M. Frick, A&S '93 (MS), '96 (PhD), edited Estrogens and Memory: Basic Research and Clinical Implications, published by Oxford University Press in January 2020. The book explores how hormonal regulation of brain function influences cognition and provides a one-stop reference for those interested in learning about the effects of estrogens on memory and the resulting implications for mental health. Frick was also recently promoted to the rank of Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Lisa Diane McCall, SPH '93 (MPH), published The Rhythm of the Soul: A Journey of Loss and Discovery in 2017. The novel tells the story of a young woman named Laila, Tuareg nomads, and the ancient Muslim culture of the Sahara Desert. Laila becomes a heroine for our times as she dares to leave her familiar life and embark on an inner and outer quest. Through her encounters with the ancient voices of the desert, the Tuareg tea ceremony, and Anarani, her talking camel, she bravely claims her authentic wisdom.

1994

Louis Hugo Francescutti, SPH '94 (MPH), emergency and preventive medicine physician, co-authored Hardwired: How Our Instincts to Be Healthy Are Making Us Sick, released in November 2020 by Copernicus Books. The book explores how humans' ingrained survival instincts have come into conflict with the immense social changes that have arisen in the past few decades, creating our most pressing public health emergency.

Shannon P. Pryor, HS '94, Med '94 (PGF), HS '98, Med '98 (PGF), was elected chair of the American Medical Association Council on Long Range Planning and Development, which studies and evaluates AMA's long-term objectives and policy development process in order to make recommendations to its board of trustees. She is also the 2020–21 president-elect of the board of trustees for MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society.

1998

Carolyn Eastman, A&S '98 (MA), '01 (PhD), associate professor of early American history at Virginia Commonwealth University, released The Strange Genius of Mr. O: The World of the United States' First Forgotten Celebrity through the University of North Carolina Press in March. It tells the story of orator James Ogilvie, who counted the nation's leading politicians and intellectuals among his admirers before falling from grace in the early 19th century.

1999

David-Alexandre C. Gros, Med '99 (MD), co-founder and former CEO and director of Imbria Pharmaceuticals, was named CEO of Novus Therapeutics, which recently changed its name to Eledon Pharmaceuticals. Eledon recently acquired Anelixis Therapeutics, a privately held clinical-stage biotechnology company.

2000

Dana Ferraris, A&S '00 (PhD), Bus '09 (MBA), an associate professor and chair of the chemistry department at McDaniel College, was named the John Desmond Kopp Professor in the Sciences. Ferraris began teaching at McDaniel in 2015 as a visiting professor before joining the faculty as associate professor in 2017. During his time at McDaniel, he has mentored undergraduate students completing student-faculty research, and most recently worked with students on research to discover drugs to fight COVID-19. Ferraris also received FDA approval for cedazuridine, the cancer drug he invented more than a decade ago when working in the biotech industry as a synthetic medicinal chemist.

2001

Shinichi Inouye, A&S '01, was named managing director of communications at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of national organizations that works to protect civil and human rights in the United States. Prior to his new role, he was the director of communications and rapid response at the Leadership Conference Education Fund. As an appointee in the Obama-Biden administration, Inouye had served the last two years as press secretary and acting senior adviser for intergovernmental and external affairs at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the Department of Homeland Security.

2002

Michelle M. Daniel, Med '02 (MD), '05 (PGF), HS '05, began her new role in January as the vice dean for medical education at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. Prior to this position, she was an associate professor of emergency medicine and assistant dean for curriculum for the medical school at the University of Michigan.

Tom C. Nguyen, Med '02 (MD), is now chief of the division of adult cardiothoracic surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. Nguyen previously worked at the University of Texas, Houston, where he was a professor of cardiothoracic surgery, chief of cardiac surgery, director of minimally invasive valve surgery, and co-director of the Structural Heart Program.

Matthew E. Nielsen, Med '02 (MD), '03 (PGF), HS '03, '07, urologic oncologist and health services researcher, was named chair of the Department of Urology at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine in November 2020.

2004

Jeffrey Kranzler, A&S '04, a child, adolescent, and adult therapist in Bethesda, Maryland, published The Crimson Protector in August 2020. The superhero adventure novel teaches tweens and teens how to build confidence, overcome social anxiety, and handle bullying. The book follows James Gazt as he navigates the challenges of middle school. With the help of a mentor and a knowledge of the history of the civil rights movement in his town, James learns that standing up for what's right is what it truly means to be a superhero.

Christopher J. Sonnenday, SPH '04 (MPH), Med '05 (PGF), HS '05, was appointed director of the University of Michigan Transplant Center. Most recently, he served as the surgical director of liver transplantation and living donor liver transplantation for Michigan Medicine, and currently serves as executive vice chair of the Department of Surgery at the University of Michigan.

2005

Gavriela M. Bogin-Farber, A&S '05, joined Boston law firm Sherin and Lodgen LLP as an associate in the employment law department. The firm has been recognized by U.S. News & World Report on its list of Best Law Firms in the categories of "Employment Law: Individuals" and of "Litigation: Labor and Employment." Bogin-Farber represents individuals in all aspects of employment negotiations and litigation, including discrimination, wage and hour disputes, retaliation, and wrongful termination.

David Flanigan, Engr '05 (MS), '07 (MS), a systems engineer for the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, was one of four authors who published the third edition of Systems Engineering Principles and Practice in July 2020. The bestselling textbook has been used extensively in the JHU Systems Engineering program.

2006

Steven Cunningham, Med '06 (PGF), director of pancreatic and hepatobiliary surgery and director of research at Saint Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, published a new book of poetry for children titled Your Body, Sick and Well: How Do You Know? in January 2020. The poems revolve around topics related to normal anatomy and physiology, pathology, and the tools doctors use to treat diseases. The book won first place in the Colorado Independent Publishers Association's EVVY awards contest and a gold medal from the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, and was a finalist in the National Indie Excellence Awards. Proceeds go to charities that support children's physical and mental health.

2007

Kathleen H. Burns, Bus '07 (Cert), HS '08, became chair of the Department of Pathology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in March 2020.

Amy J. Sloane, A&S '07, SPH '08 (MS), and Brian Sloane, Engr '05, and their daughter, Amelia, welcomed a baby boy, Oliver Benjamin, on May 30, 2020. The family resides in Dresher, Pennsylvania.

2010

Elizabeth G. Lenrow, A&S '10, Engr '10, was promoted to vice president and client adviser at J.P. Morgan Private Bank in February 2019. She spent six years in New York City as an analyst and vice president with J.P. Morgan Private Bank before returning to her native Baltimore.

Lawrence Loh, SPH '10 (MPH), has been appointed medical officer of health for Peel Public Health, the second largest local health department in Ontario, Canada, serving a community of 1.4 million people in the Greater Toronto Area.

2012

Amit Jain, Med '12 (MD), associate professor and chief of minimally invasive and outpatient spine surgery in the Johns Hopkins Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, was named the 2020–22 William F. Rienhoff Jr., MD, Scholar. To honor the memory of his father, Mr. and Mrs. Francis C. Rienhoff established the scholarship fund for the young surgery faculty of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and for house staff of Johns Hopkins Hospital who are specializing in the surgical sciences.

2014

Allysa Dittmar, A&S '14, SPH '17, Aaron Hsu, A&S '14, SPH '15, and Inez Lam, Engr '16, were named to the Forbes "30 Under 30" list of emerging leaders in retail and commerce for 2020. The trio, along with Elyse Heob, SPH '18 (MPH), Bus '18 (MBA), who at 32 is ineligible for the list, designed Clear-Mask, a transparent face mask that increases accessibility for deaf patients who previously were unable to read lips or expressions of masked doctors and surgeons. The company has sold more than 12 million masks since going on the market earlier this year.

2016

Wei-Hsi "Ariel" Yeh, Engr '16, was named to the Forbes "30 Under 30" list of emerging leaders in health care for 2020. She currently works at genome editing startup Prime Medicine, where she develops patents for devices that help cure disease through rewriting DNA.

2019

Samuel Cheney, A&S '19 (MFA), received a 2021 Pushcart Prize for his poem "On the Footage of Monet Painting," which was also published in the annual anthology that collects the prize-winning pieces. The Pushcart Prize is considered the most honored literary series in America and was listed "among the most influential projects in the history of American publishing" by Publishers Weekly.